The Huntsman Advanced Materials designer Andrej Justin and the team from Carbon Innovation Ltd who crafted the boat, less than a month after it first set sail, the ‘CODE8’, the new One Design carbon racing yacht has competed in and won the Keszthely-Kenese Regatta, a non-stop solo sailing race across Lake Balaton in Hungary.

The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the Department for Business Innovation (BIS) have jointly agreed to invest £10 million in grants to sixteen collaborative research and development projects that focus on achieving significant cuts in CO2 emissions for vehicle-centric technologies in low carbon vehicles.

A Case Western Reserve University researcher has built a prototype blade that is substantially lighter and eight times tougher and more durable than currently used blade materials. Marcio Loos, a Post-Doctoral Researcher in the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, works with colleagues at Case Western Reserve, and investigators from Bayer MaterialScience, and Molded Fiber Glass comparing the properties of new materials with the current standards used in blade manufacturing. According to Case, Loos built the world’s first polyurethane blade reinforced with carbon nanotubes, ensuring the composite that was scoring best on preliminary tests could be moulded into the right shape and maintain properties. They say that using a small commercial blade as a template, Loos manufactured a 29-inch blade that is substantially lighter, more rigid and tougher. “The idea behind all this is the need to develop stronger and lighter materials which will enablemanufacturing of blades for larger rotors,” Loos said.